Postwar Restoration of Architectural Monuments

Categories / Architecture/Construction Materials and Industry, Architectural Monuments Restoration
POSTWAR RESTORATION OF ARCHITECTURAL MONUMENTS. During the Siege of 1941-44, 187 of 210 buildings registered by the government as architectural monuments suffered from bombardment, suburban palaces-museums (except for Oranienbaum) were ruined. During the war years, members of Inspection for Monuments Protection (headed by N.N. Belekhov) measured and determined the number of buildings destroyed and prepared restoration projects. Even by autumn of 1942 work had already started on the reconstruction of a cover for the Shuvalov (Naryshkin) Palace's columned hall, destroyed by bomb on 14 October 1941 (architect G.G. Grimm). In 1941-1942, a restoration battalion did urgent repair work in the General Staff buildings, the Admiralty, the Philharmonic Hall and others. In November 1943, a special Artistic Architectural school for training restorers was created. On 1 July 1945, architectural-restoration workshops started functioning, since 1974 Restorer Association. Since 1945 specialist-restorers were trained at V.I. Mukhina Higher Art School (among its graduates are the masters of the Leningrad Restoration School: painters L.P. Lyubimov, R.P. Sausen, sculptor L.M. Shvetskaya, pattern-designers N.I. Ode, G.F. Tsygankov and engraver A.K. Kochuev). The distinctive feature of postwar restoration work was the recreation of lost or destroyed monuments on the basis of scrupulous scientific researches (often a monument was returned its earlier shape it had possessed before the war broke out). Architects-designers A.A. Kedrinsky, E.V. Kazanskaya, A.B. Lebedinskaya, A.L. Rotach, V.M. Savkov and many others figured prominently in this work. Already in August of 1944 the Cabin of Peter the Great Museum was reopened, concurrently conservation works were carried out on it - the total reconstruction was undertaken in 1971-73, architect A.E. Hessen. In 1944 the spire of the SS. Peter&Paul Cathedral (the new gilding was executed in 1957) had the camouflage and protective paint cleaned from it. Under the reconstruction of 1952-1956, Kikin's Chambers, severely damaged during the war, were restored to its 1719-20 condition (architect I.N. Benois). In the course of 1947-1948 restoration of the Kunstkammer building the trimming of the tower, destroyed by the fire of 1747 (architect R. I. Kaplan-Ingel), was recreated. Since 1946 the restoration of the Winter Palace, that had suffered from shelling and bombing -- in 1943 ceiling of Georgievsky and Heraldic Halls were lost -- was undertaken. In 1947-49 the top-priority work was carried out on the restoration of Mikhailovsky Castle, in 1945-53 the restoration of the House of Lidval, which had suffered a direct hit from a bomb, was completed. Two bombs in 1941 ruined Adamini House, its reconstruction was undertaken in 1946 (architect A.S. Ginzberg). The reconstruction of the nearly levelled Elagin Palace was launched in 1946 with the measurement and determination of the precise details of the damage, in 1952-60 the palace was totally restored (architect M.M. Plotnikov). Concurrently, restoration work in the suburbs was undertaken: Petrodvorets, Pushkin, Pavlovsk etc. were among the monuments that required restoration.

References: Восстановление памятников архитектуры Ленинграда. 2-е изд. Л., 1989; Кедринский А. А. Основы реставрации памятников архитектуры: Обобщение опыта школы ленингр. реставраторов. М., 1999.

Y. M. Piryutko. Belekhov Nikolay Nikolaevich
Benois Irina Nikolaevna
Ginzberg Alexander Solomonovich
Grimm German Germanovich
Hessen Alexander Ernestovich
Kaplan-Ingel Robert Isaakovich
Kazanskaya Evgenia Vladimirovna
Kedrinsky Alexander Alexandrovich
Kochuev А.К.
Lebedinskaya А.B.
Lyubimov L.P.
Mukhina Vera Ignatievna
Ode N.I.
Peter I, Emperor
Plotnikov Mikhail Mikhailovich
Rotach Alexander Lukich
Sausen R.P.
Savkov Vasily Mitrofanovich
Shvetskaya L .M .
Tsygankov Georgy Fedorovich
Восстановление памятников архитектуры Ленинграда. Л., 1983 Siege of 1941-44
Artillery Bombardments of 1941-44
Bombings of 1941-44
Shuvalov (Naryshkin) Palace
General Staff Building
Admiralty
Admiralty
Philharmonic named after D.D. Shostakovich
Cabin of Peter the Great, museum
SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral
Kikiny Palaty (Kikin's Chambers)
Kunstkammer
Winter Palace
Mikhailovsky Castle
Laval, House of
Adamini's House
Elagin Palace
1944